EBay Inc. is cutting about 500 employees — or 4% of its workforce — as the ecommerce company continues to face slower consumer spending after a brief pandemic boom.

EBay job cuts follow those of Amazon, other large tech and ecommerce companies

The reductions are in response to the “macroeconomic situation around the world,” CEO Jamie Iannone said Feb. 7 in a statement. He said they’re necessary to help “create long-term sustainable growth.”

EBay job cuts make it the latest company to eliminate positions in response to economic conditions. Sales have declined in the past six quarters as people shifted back to spending on experiences such as traveling and dining out that they postponed during the pandemic. Analysts, on average, expect the San Jose, California-based company will report that revenue fell about 6% to $2.46 billion. EBay announces holiday-quarter results on Feb. 22.

The “workforce reduction may be a move to streamline operations and make room for new investment focused on elevating the platform’s capabilities and visibility,” Poonam Goyal and Abigail Gilmartin, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts, said in a note.

Amazon.com Inc., eBay’s far larger rival, has said it’s cutting 18,000 jobs and reported last week that online sales dropped 2% in the holiday quarter. Wayfair Inc., an online home-goods retailer, said last month it would eliminate 1,750 jobs, or 10% of its workforce.

EBay ranks No. 5 in the 2022 Digital Commerce 360 Online Marketplaces Database. Amazon ranks No. 3, as well as No. 1 in the 2022 Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000 database. The Top 1000 ranks North American web merchants by sales. Taobao and Tmall, which Alibaba Group Holdings owns, hold the first two spots (respectively) in the online marketplaces rankings.

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